Motor vehicles often include an interior vehicle panel, such as an instrument panel, door panel, a trim panel, and/or the like. Foamed interior panels, such as, for example, foam-in-place (FIP) interior panels or other interior panels made by alternative foaming processes, are often used to provide a padded finish to desired areas of the interiors of motor vehicles. Foamed interior panels include a substrate and a skin covering with a foam layer arranged between the skin covering and the substrate to provide padding for a softer finish. During fabrication of, for example, a FIP interior panel, the foam layer is typically formed by injecting a liquid, e.g., polyurethane precursors such as diisocynates and polyols, or other liquid foam forming material(s), between the substrate and the skin covering that are supported in a foam tool.
One issue for foamed interior panels is that relatively large air pockets or foam voids can be formed in the foam layer during fabrication of the panel due to, for example, its part geometry, variations in flow of the liquid foam forming material(s), and/or inadequately venting of the foam tool during foaming. In one example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,878, issued to Gray et al., an instrument panel of an automotive vehicle is formed using an FIP process. An outer skin layer is positioned topside down in a cavity of a mold tool shaped in accordance with the desired shape of the instrument panel. A retainer is inserted into the mold tool and supported in spaced relation to the outer skin layer to provide a foam space therebetween. Suitable foam reactants are then introduced into the foam space where they react, expand and cure to fill the foam space and generate a foam layer. Unfortunately, gaps or spaces can be formed in the foam layer due to imperfections, pressure buildup, and/or designed clearances that trap air or gas in the liquid foam forming material(s) during the FIP process.
Another issue for foamed interior panels is providing adequate stiffness to areas of the panel where the foam is not necessarily fully supported by the substrate and/or other underlying structure. For example, the rearward in-vehicle edge (e.g., the brow or cantilevered section) of a foamed instrument panel often includes a foam section that extends rearward from an edge of a substrate. As such, the foam section is cantilevered from and/or is not fully supported by the substrate and can droop or otherwise sag due to sun load(s), manual forces (e.g., hand pushing or pulling down on the area), and/or other external forces.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide foamed interior panels that overcome one or more of the foregoing issues. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.